Strategic Consequences of Co-Evolutionary Lock-In: Insights From A Longitudinal Process Study

Based on longitudinal research of Intel’s strategic evolution and grounded theorizing efforts, I examine the strategic consequences of the substantive concept of coevolutionary lock-in in light of a model of organizational strategy-making that distinguishes between induced and autonomous processes. I also examine the implications of the strategic consequences of coevolutionary lock-in for strategic leadership. For purposes of theory building, the organizational-level substantive phenomenon of coevolutionary lock-in can be related to more general, higher-system-level ideas about path dependency, and thereby complements these more general ideas in potentially fruitful ways.